Journal Entry #3: Final 3 Days of Summer Camp

Day 3
My classmates and I learned a lot of useful phrases such as, What do you recommend?", "I have a question, is it okay?", "How much is this?", "Do you have X?", and other such phrases that are useful when visiting a Japanese store or restaurant. We were preparing for day 4, where we will go to Little Tokyo and speak in Japanese to the store clerks.

Day 4
We went to Little Tokyo. My classmate, Taylor, and I went to a Koban, Kunikuya Bookstore, and 3 ramen shops while the other two classmates went to sushi shops; of course, our sensei and administrator accompanied us. This was my first time using Japanese outside of the classroom. Practicing my Japanese with store clerks, even though it was just basic, definitely gave me the confidence to speak more Japanese. The store clerks did not look down on us for our basic Japanese (as I had always imagined). Instead, they were optimistic when we spoke Japanese to them; a few clerks were astonished or surprised...

From now on, whenever I am in Japan town or Little Tokyo, I will definitely use Japanese as much as I can. After that we went to the classroom and played Shiritori.

Day 5
My classmates and I had to do a presentation in both Japanese and English. Parents, administrators, and workers/directors of the Japan Foundation went to see us present. We also had to wear yukatas during our presentation, which was something new for me (I wore a pink one). It took a while for that Japanese lady to put on our yukatas, www. It did not really feel comfortable; it was tight for us and my classmates and I looked like we were walking like penguins. Anyway, I was a little excited because I never wore a yukata before, but a little nervous because our presentation was a last-minute decision. For our presentation, we introduced ourselves in Japanese, explained what we learned in Little Tokyo (what the ramen shops had, what they recommended, their prices on a few food items, etc). Then in English, we explained in English some aspect of Japanese culture that we had learned. I talked about the Tabanata Festival (tanzaku) and some history that I learned about Little Tokyo (such as EO 9066 during WWII happening on San Pedro St.), and how the "Discover Little Tokyo" camp gave me a new insight of the LT district. My classmates talked about the maneki neko, Konukinuya bookstore, darumas, and the Bon Festival. After the presentation, we went to the Japanese garden on the back of the building to take lots of pictures in our yukatas. Finally, it was time to say sayonora, even though I will contact my sensei and a few of my classmates through Skype and email.

So this was the first and last time I will do this sort of "Japanese teen summer camp" type of thing, since it's the last year of my teenage years (18). It definitely was a fun experience and would definitely help you learn a lot of the Japanese culture and language. Actually, this was Japan Foundation's first time to do a Discover Little Tokyo Teen Summer Camp. Since we were the first class, the Japanese sensei and administrator said that we will be remembered for a long time. Also, since it was the first class, pictures of my class might be posted on their website. I definitely recommend this summer camp if your 14-18 years old. Even though it is only 5-days, it will be intense for a beginner of Japanese.